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Knowledge, experience, and dedication have brought the lawyers of The Epstein Law Firm to the forefront of their profession. From personal injury to civil litigation, they have built a strong record of success in achieving justice for their clients.
Our practice is diverse and well-established. Recognizing that every case is unique, we always begin by listening to you.
The Epstein Law Firm, P.A. has been successfully representing clients throughout New Jersey since 1973
$150M+ Recovered
Reviewed for legal accuracy by NJ attorneys handling workers’ comp claims under N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 et seq.
Reviewed by
Michael J. Epstein
Written by
Aron Solomon
Last Updated: April 2026 (reflects 2026 NJ workers’ comp benefit rate updates and current filing rules.)
The articles published on this platform have been thoroughly checked and reviewed for accuracy and reliability. However, while every effort is made to ensure the information is up-to-date and credible, we encourage readers to verify the details independently.
At Epstein Law Firm, we are committed to delivering exceptional legal representation that creates meaningful results for our clients. Guided by an unwavering pursuit of justice and a genuine dedication to serving those in need, our seasoned attorneys are prepared to stand by your side and advocate for your rights.
A crash can leave several people pointing you toward different insurance companies. The driver may work for a business, the vehicle may belong to someone else, and your own coverage may handle some medical expenses. Understanding who was involved is as important as understanding where the vehicles collided.
The Epstein Law Firm represents people injured in New Jersey motor vehicle accidents, including drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians. We investigate responsibility, available coverage, and the effect of the injuries together. Michael Epstein’s background as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney informs that work when fault or the extent of the harm is disputed.
Start with what you know: the crash location, the vehicles involved, your treatment, and the insurer requests you have received. You do not have to identify every responsible party before seeking help.
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Two collisions involving similar vehicles may raise different issues. A passenger visiting a friend, an employee making a delivery, and a rideshare customer can have different coverage questions. The details of the trip help identify which records and policies need attention.
Tell your lawyer whether anyone was working, transporting passengers, making a delivery, or operating a government vehicle. Save trip receipts, the employer’s name, vehicle identification, and insurance correspondence. These facts can point toward additional investigation without proving that a company or public agency is automatically liable.
The Epstein Law Firm’s role is to connect those facts to a supported claim. A business name on a door does not establish responsibility by itself. Nor does a driver’s apology establish every disputed issue. The investigation needs to explain the conduct that caused the collision and how the resulting injuries affected you.
Our motor vehicle practice includes several related services. Each presents practical questions that deserve more than a generic accident checklist:
The first account may be incomplete, especially after emergency treatment. Identify what you remember directly, what someone else reported, and what remains unknown. That distinction helps the investigation stay accurate as records become available.
New Jersey PIP coverage can pay covered medical expenses without deciding fault. It is not a universal payment system for every road user or vehicle. Eligibility, the applicable policy, health-insurance choices, and the circumstances of the accident all matter. The State’s auto insurance guide explains the principal coverage categories.
A claim against a responsible party concerns legally recoverable losses caused by that party’s conduct. Proving those losses may involve medical findings, work restrictions, wage records, and evidence of lasting impairment. Paying an initial bill does not establish that the entire injury has been evaluated.
If the accident occurred while working, identify that fact immediately. New Jersey’s injured-worker guidance describes a separate benefits process. Potential benefits and a claim against someone outside the employment relationship need coordination; overlapping claims should not be treated as unrelated sources of duplicate payment.
Describe symptoms and prior conditions honestly to your clinicians. A useful medical history explains what changed after the crash instead of simply listing every diagnosis. Save referrals, restrictions, bills, and communications about treatment authorization. If access to care becomes a problem, document the reason and ask the provider what is needed.
Work loss also needs detail. Record missed days, reduced hours, and job tasks you cannot perform. Keep employer correspondence and available earnings records. For self-employed people, canceled jobs and business records may help explain a loss that does not appear on a pay stub.
The Epstein Law Firm evaluates that information alongside the crash evidence. Potential compensation can depend on causation, shared responsibility, insurance, and any applicable limitation on noneconomic claims. The goal is an account supported by records, not an estimate based on an injury label or an online settlement calculator.
Keep original scene photographs, witness details, the police report number, and insurer letters. Identify possible video and other evidence promptly. For commercial vehicles, a lawyer can assess whether requests should reach the operator, vehicle owner, employer, or another record holder. Not every business or vehicle is subject to the same rules.
New Jersey generally gives a person two years to bring a personal-injury lawsuit, subject to exceptions. The governing personal-injury statute addresses when the claim accrues, so a specific deadline should be checked rather than assumed.
A public-entity claim can also require a 90-day notice. New Jersey Treasury’s instructions explain the State notice process and distinguish claims directed to local agencies. Insurance reporting and preservation may need attention well before either of these deadlines. Do not wait for negotiations to finish before checking them.
Different agencies handle different parts of the aftermath. These resources can help you organize the next step:
These resources address particular needs. They do not guarantee eligibility or compensation, and using them does not remove the need to track a separate legal claim.
Michael Epstein is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney. His professional background also includes leadership of the Bergen County Bar Association and long-standing civil-practice writing and committee work. That experience is relevant when a case needs a clear presentation of disputed facts and medical proof.
The firm’s published results include litigation involving a fatal rollover and paralysis after a limousine left the roadway. Those outcomes reflect work on substantial vehicle-injury cases; they are not a forecast for another person. Your claim depends on its own evidence and applicable law.
An initial conversation should help identify the unresolved issues. When you contact the firm, explain your treatment, work situation, and any pending offer or request. Bring the documents already available rather than delaying while you try to collect everything yourself.
Tell our motor vehicle accident team about the vehicles involved, your injuries, and the most pressing insurance or deadline question. Bring the available records so we can discuss what needs attention next.
Selected results reported by The Epstein Law Firm.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts, evidence, and applicable law.
These excerpts describe experiences with the firm. They are not identified as cases in this practice area and do not predict another outcome.
“They took the time to explain everything clearly, making sure I understood my options and felt comfortable with each step of the process.”
— R. S. · Read the full Google review
“Michael and his team were incredibly responsive, always keeping us informed and addressing any questions or concerns promptly.”
— s. v. · Read the full Google review
These answers are general information. Coverage, the people and vehicles involved, medical evidence, and other facts can change the analysis.
Yes, passengers may have claims for injuries caused by a driver’s negligence. Responsibility could involve the driver of their vehicle, another driver, or more than one party. Being a passenger does not establish the available compensation or decide which policy pays medical expenses; those issues require their own review.
Keep the names of all drivers, the police report information, and any available policy details. Describe where you were sitting and what you personally observed without filling gaps in your memory. Medical-benefit eligibility and an injury claim against a responsible driver are different questions. A policy’s lawsuit option may also matter. Have those issues evaluated before accepting the assumption that you must rely only on the insurance card handed over at the scene.
Sources: NJDOBI Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide; NJDOBI Standard Auto Insurance Policy.
No. No-fault generally describes payment of covered PIP benefits without first establishing which driver caused the collision. It does not eliminate negligence claims or decide responsibility for all losses. Medical benefits, property damage, and compensation for noneconomic harm involve different coverage and legal questions.
Separate the letters you receive by insurer, claim number, and the issue being decided. A treatment approval is not a liability finding, and a repair payment does not necessarily resolve an injury claim. New Jersey’s lawsuit-option rules can affect pain-and-suffering claims while other coverage operates differently. Understanding which claim an adjuster is discussing helps prevent a narrow payment decision from being mistaken for a determination of every right arising from the accident.
Sources: NJDOBI Everything You Wanted to Know About Auto Insurance; NJDOBI Selecting Your Health Insurer for PIP.
A crash arising out of and in the course of employment may involve workers’ compensation as well as a potential claim against a responsible third party. Whether the trip qualifies requires the actual employment and travel facts. It is not enough to assume that every trip in a work vehicle, or every commute, receives the same treatment.
Report a possible work injury to the employer promptly and identify the task, destination, vehicle, and treatment needed. New Jersey’s workers’ compensation system has its own treatment and benefit rules. A recovery against someone outside the employment relationship may involve a credit or reimbursement issue. Tell each lawyer and insurer about the related claims so that benefits and any proposed settlement can be assessed together rather than in isolation.
Sources: New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation—Injured Worker Protections; New Jersey Workers’ Compensation FAQs—Third-party recovery.
Driver and company records can matter alongside the police report and photographs. For covered motor carriers, hours-of-service records and supporting business documents can help examine the trip. Accident-reporting records may also provide information about the event. Their existence does not automatically prove a violation or establish why the crash happened.
Identify the truck, trailer, operator, and any company information shown in the available documents. A lawyer can determine which records are relevant, who holds them, and which preservation steps are appropriate. Avoid assuming that every commercial van or local work vehicle has the same federal recordkeeping obligations. The vehicle’s use and the rules governing the particular operation must be checked before drawing conclusions from a missing document or a driver’s schedule.
Sources: FMCSA Supporting Documents for Hours-of-Service Records; FMCSA Guidance on Records Supporting an Accident Register.
First identify which insurer is asking and what the request concerns. Your own policy may require cooperation, documents, or an examination under oath. A request from the other party’s insurer arises in a different relationship. Neither ignoring every request nor answering immediately without understanding it is a reliable approach.
Ask for the request and any claimed deadline in writing, then review them with counsel. Give accurate facts and distinguish what you remember from what you learned later. Do not guess about speed, distances, or an injury prognosis you have not received. Keep a copy of documents provided. An insurer may need evidence to evaluate a claim, but the scope of a particular statement or authorization deserves attention before it is supplied.
Sources: NJDOBI Filing an Auto Damage Claim with Your Own Insurer—Cooperation and statements; NJDOBI Filing an Auto Damage Claim with Another Insurer—Investigation.
Potentially. New Jersey compares the injured person’s negligence with the negligence of the defendant or combined defendants against whom recovery is sought. Recovery is not barred when the injured person’s negligence is not greater, but damages are reduced by that person’s assigned share. Applying the rule requires more than counting how many vehicles were involved.
In a chain collision, preserve the sequence of impacts, vehicle positions, witness information, and available video. A police report or insurance allocation may provide useful evidence without conclusively resolving every disputed fact. Ask what supports any percentage assigned to you. Where the accounts remain inconsistent, a lawyer can assess the evidence and explain how a claim against multiple parties differs from a straightforward dispute between two drivers.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1—Comparative negligence; NJDOBI Comparative Negligence Settlement FAQs.
Seek medical evaluation and explain the crash and the timing of the symptoms. Some concussion symptoms develop hours or days after an injury. The CDC identifies worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizures, increasing confusion, and difficulty waking among warning signs that require immediate emergency care rather than waiting for a claims appointment.
For ongoing symptoms, follow the clinician’s plan and ask about work, driving, and activity restrictions. Tell the provider about earlier injuries and any changes during recovery. Keep the resulting records, but do not treat a symptom checklist as a diagnosis. Medical assessment and legal causation are separate questions. Your account should describe what happened and how you are functioning, leaving medical conclusions to the qualified professional evaluating you.
Sources: CDC Symptoms of Mild TBI and Concussion; CDC What to Do After a Mild TBI or Concussion.
It can. A claim involving a public entity or employee may be subject to New Jersey’s Tort Claims Act notice requirements and other special rules. Notice generally must be provided within 90 days, and the correct recipient matters. The State’s filing system is not a substitute for notice to every county, municipality, or other public entity.
Preserve the vehicle identification, agency information, date, location, and description of what occurred. Obtain advice promptly even if the police attended or an insurance representative already has the report. Those events should not be assumed to satisfy a formal notice requirement. A notice also does not establish liability or replace a lawsuit when one is needed. Both the responsible entity and the applicable legal deadlines require review.
Sources: New Jersey Treasury public-entity claim instructions; New Jersey Courts Civil FAQs—Tort claims and limitations.
An investigation is not a reason to assume that the lawsuit deadline has paused. New Jersey generally provides two years for a personal-injury action after the claim accrues, subject to exceptions. Other notices and coverage obligations may require earlier action. The relevant deadline depends on the actual claim and parties.
Keep a calendar of the collision date, letters received, and stated response dates, but have the legal calculation reviewed. Ask for written explanations of delays and preserve the correspondence. If negotiations are continuing near a deadline, the steps needed to protect the claim should be considered before the time expires. A complaint to a regulator or another telephone discussion with an adjuster should not be treated as the equivalent of filing the necessary court action.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2—Personal-injury actions; New Jersey Courts Civil FAQs—Statutes of limitations.
Gather the incident date and location, police report number, driver and witness details, insurance documents, photographs, and correspondence already available. Add treatment information and records showing time missed from work. If a commercial trip or work assignment was involved, identify that context and preserve any related receipt, instruction, or trip record.
You do not need to delay a conversation while searching for every item. Explain which information is missing and identify urgent requests or offers. An organized initial account helps distinguish evidence about responsibility from evidence about injury and loss. Avoid editing original images or presenting an estimate as an established fact. The next step is to determine what requires investigation and what deadlines apply, not to promise an outcome from an incomplete file.
Sources: NJDOBI Filing an Auto Damage Claim with Your Own Insurer—Claim information; NJDOBI Filing an Auto Damage Claim with Another Insurer—Evidence and investigation; New Jersey State Police crash-record guidance.
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94%
Linked to human error (distracted driving = leading cause)
6,000,000+
Reported each year in the U.S.
Five Seconds
On your phone at the wheel means driving an entire football field blind
Motorcyclists are 24x more likely to die in a crash than car occupants
~1 in 3
Fatalities are contributed to speeding
What’s the difference between a lawsuit with a limitation and one with no limitation?
In New Jersey. We have lawsuits with people who have the limitation on lawsuit, and people have no limitation on lawsuits. It’s easier to explain the no limitation on lawsuit to no limitation on lawsuit, which used to be called the no threshold is when a person elects to have no limitation on their right to sue for pain and suffering. And in New Jersey, we do call it an election. You need to allow that limitation or no limitation. That’s part of the application process. So if you elect no limitation on lawsuit, you can sue for temporary and permanent injuries with no restrictions and no requirements other than presenting a doctor’s report to explain what your injuries are. So you’re not restricted in any way.If you’re injured and want to bring a claim or a lawsuit with a limitation on lawsuit in your insurance policy, and that’s the election to sue for pain and suffering, a person has to prove one of six injuries to sue for pain and suffering, to get compensated for the pain and suffering of the injuries, death, loss of a fetus, dismemberment, which means loss of a limb displaced fracture, meaning the fracture goes all the way through the bone, significant scarring or disfigurement, meaning someone can see it from five or ten feet away. And it’s obvious. And then number six is permanent injury. Many cases and it’s in most cases in the car accident world, often are tried in the permanent injury category where the insurance company for the defendant or the defense firm is saying the person does not meet the requirements of a permanent injury in New Jersey. What does a permanent injury mean in New Jersey under the limitation on lawsuit? Permanent injury is defined as an injury that has not healed and will not heal with future treatment. And a doctor has to say that. And a doctor has to show that the injury is permanent with objective medical evidence, MRI, X-ray, CAT scan, some other diagnostic test.
What happens when you have low UIM coverage in a car accident?
When a person has lower limits of underinsured motorist coverage, which we call UIM in New Jersey, the person is restricted in his or her ability of going against his or her own insurance company for compensation for his or her injuries from the car accident when the other driver has a low policy under insured motorist coverage, meaning the other person doesn’t have enough coverage. And what a person is able to do when the other person doesn’t have enough coverage is you start with the amount you recovered from the driver who injured you and you can go from that limit up to the limits of your own policy and recover the difference versus $300,000 of underinsured motorist coverage. The other driver only has $100,000 of coverage and the injury is worth 4 to $450000. Recover from the defendant for $100,000. Then you go against your own insurance company for underinsured motorist coverage for the $200,000 additional coverage. In a situation where a person only has 35,000 or $50,000 of underinsured motorist coverage, you’re out of luck. You’re stuck with $100,000 from a drivers insurance company, even though your case is worth more and you’ve sustained severe and permanent injuries.
What happens when you have low PIP benefits in a car accident?
If a person has low PIP benefits or lower limits of PIP benefits in their car insurance policy in New Jersey, a person’s car insurance will only pay up to that limit. So, for example, a person is severely injured in a car accident and needs to have surgery 90 to 120 days after the accident. The person only has $15,000 of personal injury protection benefit. The car insurance company is going to pay up to the $15,000 and cease paying. So when the person needs a surgery, 90 to 120 days out person has to look at his or her health insurance or find financing for the surgery. If the person doesn’t have health insurance or a letter of protection, meaning the doctor will get paid out of any money that is recovered in the lawsuit. So if a person has limited PIP benefits, it really could hurt them in the lawsuit, meaning they’ll have to pay the doctor back more money or they may have to pay back their health insurance down the line if there is a right of reimbursement.
What makes Uber accident cases unique?
Uber accidents seem like a car accident, but they’re not. And they’re unique in today’s world. An accident when an Uber driver is regulated to the ride share laws of New Jersey. The first thing we have to say when we see someone is injured in an Uber or Lyft or rideshare accident was the app on because of the apps on or the app is off determines how much coverage is available from that driver. So it’s very important they have an understanding of the uniqueness of the coverage limits for an Uber driver. And Uber typically does not pay for medical bills from the car accident, which can also make it very tricky because in New Jersey, commercial vehicles don’t always have PIP coverage. They need to be taken out. And an Uber driver is not a private passenger car. It’s a car for hire the rideshare. So it kind of falls more in a taxi and limousine. So the coverages are different and we have to explore the coverage limits in detail. We have to find out what is going on with the driver and Uber or Lyft or the Rideshare. Were they engaged in the app or were they not engaged in the app? What prior history looks like and sometimes, if a case is worth more than the insurance limits provided to a driver, we have to look above that to see if Uber has additional insurance.
What amount of coverage should you have in your car insurance?
How much coverage you should have in your car insurance policy is determined by a few factors. What can you afford? Everyone has different spending requirements. Everyone has different budgets. Everyone has different income. I do believe that everyone should have certain minimum coverage limits in their policy because you need to have certain minimum coverage limits to protect yourself and protect your family. For liability coverage, I do believe that every person should have at least $100,000 of coverage if you injure someone else and they have a claim for paying and suffering and lost economic damages, you want to make sure you have $100,000, because if you have a smaller policy, you don’t want to make yourself subject to anything above your policy limits. What amount of coverage should you have for underinsured and underinsured motorist coverage? You typically cannot exceed the liability coverage when you have underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage. You really should have no less than $100,000 because if someone injures you and they do not have any coverage, you want to make sure you have a minimum of $100,000 to help yourself during your time of need. When you’re recuperating or recovering from your injuries. If you can afford more than that. I strongly recommend that you do so, and it will not cost you a significant amount of more money from your policy or your insurance company. How much coverage should you have for PIP benefits for your medical coverage? I strongly urge people not to make health insurance their primary in their car insurance, because if you’re in an accident, sometimes you need to pay the health insurance company back. There is no payback obligation when you have your medical bills paid for under the PIP coverage. And I tell you and I tell all my clients to take the $250,000, if you are involved in an accident and you are seriously injured. $250,000 of coverage will provide you with a lot of coverage for medical treatment. And if you need to have a claim for pain and suffering and you’re looking for compensation, medical bills will not need to be repaid or hopefully will not need to be repaid.
How do I Read My Car Insurance Declaration Sheet?
Everyone gets a declaration sheet as part of their insurance policy. It is at the front of the insurance policy. Most people don’t know what their coverages are and most people don’t know how to read the declaration page. The first thing you’re going to see is what is your liability coverage. That means if you injure someone else in an accident, how much will your insurance company pay for someone else’s injuries and compensation for economic losses? Then you go down and what is your own coverages? In New Jersey, we are a no fault state. And a no fault state means that if you’re in an accident in New Jersey involving a car, your own car insurance will pay for the property damage to your car and it will also pay for your medical bills. There will be on your declaration page a line for property damage. How much coverage do you have for physical damage to your car? That’s property damage. Then you get to what is personal injury protection benefits? That is the medical coverage in your car insurance. The other thing that’s important to know in your declaration page is underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. They’re two different things. Uninsured motorist coverage means what it says. If you are hit or you are injured as a result of an uninsured driver, they don’t have liability coverage. You look at your own policy. And when you look at your own policy, you determine what are my limits. Underinsured motorist coverage is if you’re injured by someone who doesn’t have sufficient coverage to pay or compensate you for your losses and injuries, you are allowed to look at your own underinsured motorist coverage to go from the limit of the defendant or the tort feeser or the wrongful actor up to your own underinsured limits. So the driver of the car has $100,000. You have a $500,000 underinsured motor motorist coverage claim and your total injuries and compensation are worth more than $500,000. You could look at your own car insurance for 500,000 -100,000 and get $400,000. That’s an example of how undercharged motorist coverage works. And the last part of the declaration page that’s important. Limitation on lawsuit or no limitation on a lawsuit. What does that mean? So it’s also known as a tort threshold. Some people call it the verbal threshold. Some people call it the limitation on lawsuit in New Jersey. If you have the no limitation on lawsuit, you can sue for personal injuries with no restriction for anything temporary and permanent. If, however, you have the limitation on lawsuit, which is a cheaper policy or the premium is less, if you take the limitation on lawsuit. Likewise, if you take the no limitation, it’s more expensive. What does it mean to have the limitation on lawsuit? Limitation on lawsuit means that you can only sue for pain and suffering or personal injuries if your injury satisfy one of six categories that is in the state law and they are death, dismemberment, loss of the limb, loss of a fetus, significant disfigurement or scarring displaced fracture, meaning a fractured bone goes all the way through or six where we see a lot of the lawsuits fought out, fought over in the courthouse. Permanent injury. What is permanent injury mean? It means an injury that has not healed and will not heal with future treatment. And it needs to be shown with objective medical evidence. So limitation on lawsuit makes it harder to sue for pain and suffering. And you need to know if you have that. And again, it will cost you more money to have no limitation. I do recommend it to people. I think it provides you with more rights. But I do understand it is more expensive and not everyone can afford it. And it’s up to you and your family.
$31,000,000
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The Epstein Law Firm
The Epstein Law Firm